Monday Mailbag: Is Johnny Eblen the best middleweight in the world?

25/09/2023 23:00

Hello, hooligans!

Johnny Eblen went champ mode on Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299, Rafael Fiziev might be out for awhile after UFC Vegas 78, and Ben Davis did not manage to pull off the upset at Misfits Boxing. Let's talk about all of that, plus what is next for Michelle Waterson-Gomez in this week's mailbag.

Johnny Eblen, No. 1?

The biggest thing that happened this past weekend is Johnny Eblen going Super Saiyan on Fabian Edwards in their Bellator middleweight title fight after Edwards opened the Grand Canyon on Eblen's eyebrow (more on that to come). That performance, plus Eblen's undefeated résumé, the glowing exultations of everyone at American Top Team, and the fact that he has never lost a round of a fight he's been in, has people wondering if Eblen might actually be the best middleweight alive right now? And personally, I think I'm there.

Let's start with the obvious part of all of this: Middleweight is a mess. A division that has historically been among the most stable, what with Anderson Silva holding the belt for nearly a decade, has been near total chaos for the past two years. Following Silva's reign, there was some turnover and then Israel Adesanya brought stability with his title run, but that all got kicked into a storm of nonsense when Alex Pereira was fast-tracked to the title and won it! This is not to knock Pereira — who has gone on to prove himself to be a very good MMA fighter — but the truth is, when he was champion, there were probably a dozen guys who could have reasonably beaten him, because of his stylistic limitations. Then Izzy won the rematch and everything was supposed to return to normal, until Sean Strickland — who got obliterated by Pereira — took Adesanya to school in one of the biggest upsets ever! What the (Mike) Heck are we supposed to make of all this?!

If you had told anyone at the start of 2023 that Sean Strickland would be the champion, they would have laughed in your face. This is a dude who lost to Jared Cannonier 10 months ago! And no shade on Cannonier, but we saw him fight Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. He ain't the best middleweight on Earth. That really leaves us with three options: Sean Strickland leveled up and is the top guy, Dricus du Plessis is actually the best guy and we don't know it yet, or Eblen is top dog right now. And honestly, the last one feels the most likely.

Johnny Eblen is not a perfect fighter. He's the classic wrestle-boxer with the limitations of that trope. While Eblen was beating Edwards on Saturday, it was far from a showcase until the end, and he was getting by largely on his willingness to put out volume. He's not a pretty striker and may never be one, but he's dangerous enough in all phases, durable, and has exceptional cardio. That can go a long way, particularly in a weight class that's currently in a state of tumult.

I think Eblen is a betting favorite over any middleweight in the world right now, except probably Adesanya, and even that one is close. Now, if in six months du Plessis demolishes Strickland to claim the belt, that answer probably changes for me. But at this moment in time, I think Eblen is the top middleweight in the world.

The cut

If you haven't seen Eblen's cut, here is an extremely graphic picture that I urge you not to click on unless you want to be grossed out. That is an absolute canyon that got opened up on Eblen's eyebrow in the second round. It's not the worst cut I've ever seen in MMA, but it's definitely a bad one. Edwards caught him with a perfect slicing elbow inside and ripped that one open, and to Zach's point, it's a fight-ending cut. But that's why I'm so high on Eblen after this fight: He made it irrelevant.

As stated above, I think Eblen is probably the best middleweight in the world right now, but he's still a limited fighter. Edwards is underrated, sure, but he was really making things hard on Eblen simply by stuffing takedowns and kicking a bunch. Eblen found ways through it, but his offense was stymied and he wasn't showing out. Until the cut happened. With that severe a cut, in that location, Eblen realized his title could be slipping away from him. Fifteen minutes is a long time to fist-fight someone with a chasm over your eye, and Edwards was surely going to start attacking that to get the doctor stoppage. So instead, Eblen went beast mode on him and got the finish 21 seconds later.

That is championship stuff right there. The ability to go into an extra gear when needed and the presence of mind to know that it was needed, those are rare traits. Anderson Silva had it, Israel Adesanya has (had?) it, and now we know that Eblen has it too.

Rafael Fiziev

I'm not a medical doctor, so this is wild speculation, but I would venture a guess that he tore one or more ligaments in his knee. Watching the replay and seeing the little pop in the knee of his plant leg makes me think that's what's going on. It sucks, but this is the world we live in. Knees aren't really built to twist much, and when you're a high-level athlete competing at the red line, parts of the body sometimes give out. It's a shame because that fight was already electric after just one round, and I thought Fiziev was in great shape to get a win moving forward, but the MMA Gods had other ideas.

The real shame here is that Fiziev is probably out for about a year now. Last year this was a guy who not only looked ready for a title shot, but also like he would be a legitimately interesting test for Islam Makhachev. Now, he got out-willed by Justin Gaethje and just blew his knee out against Mateusz Gamrot. When he does come back, he'll be far off from a title shot, and since he's a lightweight, he may never get there. It's the best division in the sport and unfortunate injuries can end title aspirations because the weight class moves on, evolves, and simply passes you by more quickly than any other.

Michelle Waterson-Gomez

Yeaaaah. We should be done here.

Look, Waterson-Gomez deserves a ton of respect. She's still a competent fighter and she's spent the last eight years of her career competing up a weight class. If she wants to hang around and do the Jim Miller thing, fighting Contender Series prospects and the occasional legend fight, OK. She's still game, and if that's how she chooses to earn her money, that's her prerogative. But it would probably just be better for all parties if she hung it up. She's coming up on 38 years old soon and she's starting to take more and more damage as time catches up with here. Marina Rodriguez just battered her around the cage, Amanda Lemos throttled her, and before that she took a combined 256 strikes from Rodriguez and Angela Hill.

Again, Waterson-Gomez can still compete with lower-to-middle end strawweights, but the goal shouldn't be for fighters to get dragged out of the cage, crumpled like a juiced orange. The hope is that fighters leave the cage with most of their health intact, so they can live long, productive lives after fighting. Waterson-Gomez has made a decent living I would imagine, and certainly should have opportunities outside the cage. Perhaps pursue those instead of stacking up more head trauma.

Ben Davis, hero

First of all, I wouldn't be embarrassed at all. I've had my ass kicked plenty and by far worse fighters than Anderson Silva's son. Getting your ass kicked isn't nearly as bad as most believe, and frankly, neither is public humiliation. You feel weird for a bit and then it passes.

But in Ben's case, he did nothing to be embarrassed about because here's the thing, he's not a professional fighter! If Ben has held himself out as the second coming of Roberto Duran, that would've been one thing. But he didn't. He took an opportunity and tried to make the most of it, and honestly did better than I thought he would. Ben got trucked, no doubt, but he went in there to make a fight of it the best way he could. Others would have tried to stick and move, clinch, survive. "The Bane" came to fight, he was simply overmatched. Sometimes that happens, but you've gotta respect the effort. He certainly didn't do any worse than many of the influencers who show up on Misfits, and as someone who has watched all of them (my god, I'm a lawyer, what have I done with my life?!) he did better than plenty of them.

Shouts to Ben Davis. Hope to see you in there again sometime.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for everyone who sent in Tweets! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you're in luck, because you can send your Tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! Doesn't matter if they're topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again and see y'all next week.